Markham deputy chief no stranger to lawsuits

Steve Schmadeke, Tribune reporter

A former Harvey police officer has risen to deputy police chief in Markham despite being named in at least 13 lawsuits since 2004, all of them pending or settled out of court, including cases saying he was abusive and conducted house raids with no cause.

Anthony "Tony" DeBois, 39, has been the subject of twice as many lawsuits by himself as any officer in the Harvey Police Department, according to a Tribune review of federal court records. Though he has only been at Markham for three years, he's been sued as many times as the department's other most-sued officer, a 24-year veteran, records show.

Lawsuits are not a perfect picture of a police officer's performance. Still, area attorneys who handle police misconduct lawsuits say the number of lawsuits involving DeBois over six years is remarkably high.

"That is more than a little bit surprising to me," said Chicago attorney Aaron Maduff, who is not involved in any DeBois cases.

DeBois said he is a litigation target because he leads by example, conducting raids in high-crime neighborhoods, even though as deputy chief he could sit behind a desk all day. DeBois said the number of lawsuits pales compared with the more than 1,000 arrests he has made. And he said that some of those who took him to court have criminal backgrounds.

"I've been trying to do my job to the best of my ability," he said. "When you're the police, people say things against you — I just try to protect the people."

He also has been recognized as a force for good, acting as a whistleblower against a Harvey detective who illegally returned a gun to a gang member's family in 2005. The detective last year was sentenced to three years in prison.

The lawsuits against DeBois that have been settled include:

— A postal carrier who was allegedly roughed up by DeBois after unknowingly parking her work truck so it obstructed views from his surveillance vehicle. DeBois said she was arrested after repeatedly refusing to move her delivery vehicle.

— The family of a 16-year-old girl who said their Hazel Crest home was improperly raided after the girl rejected a romantic overture from DeBois. DeBois said he is a "happily married man with a family" and that police raided the house searching for a murder suspect.

— A man who was allegedly strip-searched in a Harvey apartment in front of women and children, then spent a year in jail before charges were dropped. DeBois said cocaine was found in the apartment and that he was just one of the officers participating in the raid.

— A Harvey man who said he was knocked unconscious when DeBois punched him, unprovoked, while leaving a nightclub. DeBois said it was a security guard at the club who punched the man.

— And a Chicago police officer who said he was handcuffed and slammed into a brick wall by DeBois and two other officers after trying to speak at a Harvey public forum. DeBois denied any wrongdoing.

One of the most recent lawsuits involves a Markham couple who alleged DeBois led a mistaken drug raid on their home, slamming shut a woman's cell phone when she called 911. The couple, who have never been charged with drug crimes, allege in the still-pending suit that DeBois tried to apologize after realizing his mistake and gave them $500 cash for their broken door.

If the decisions were his, DeBois said, he would have fought all the lawsuits brought against him.

The exact amount of the legal settlements is unclear because the attorneys were bound by confidentiality agreements, and the towns declined to provide figures.

DeBois started his law enforcement career at the Chicago Housing Authority, where he was a police officer for three years beginning in 1996, state records show. He then joined the Harvey Police Department, where he worked from 1999 to 2007, before joining the Markham police squad. He became deputy chief about one year later.

"I don't have a short fuse; I'm very patient," DeBois said.

Others disagree.

ClarenceAllen was visiting his mother's Markham home last summer when he saw a group of people and cars across the street. The former Markham Park District worker allegedly said, "That's wrong," when he saw DeBois arresting someone who appeared to be doing nothing wrong, according to a lawsuit filed last year and already settled.

DeBois slammed Allen to the ground and arrested him, the suit alleges. When Allen went to see Markham's police chief the next day to complain, DeBois allegedly walked into the office and said, "I just talked to the mayor … get ready to get into the unemployment line."

Allen was fired the next day. DeBois denied any wrongdoing in the case.

Members of a Hazel Crest family sued DeBois in 2008, two years after they claimed he and two Harvey officers broke into their home without identifying themselves as police. DeBois dragged a 16-year-old girl out of her bed while pointing a gun at her and threw her on the living room couch, according to the lawsuit.

When her cell phone rang, he grabbed it, threw it across the room and handcuffed her, according to the suit. The family alleged that before this incident, DeBois had asked for the girl's phone number "for romantic purposes" in exchange for dropping charges against one of her friend's relatives, the lawsuit said.

Hazel Crest police were never notified about the raid, according to the lawsuit, and the Harvey officers said they were looking for an acquaintance of the girl.

Frankie Brown, 50, was in the bathroom of his Markham home in 2007 when police knocked down his front door and ordered him to lie on the floor, according to a lawsuit that names seven officers, including DeBois.

The lawsuit states that Brown was eventually handcuffed to a chair outside his front door, where officers placed the cover of an all-male pornographic video found in Brown's bedroom on the mailbox next to him and had a squad-car light shone on Brown so the neighbors could see.

Another officer broke a picture frame with a group picture of Brown's nephews and displayed the photo on the mailbox, joking about Brown having sex with the boys, Brown said.

DeBois denied the allegations.

No charges were ever filed against Brown, and records show he hasn't been charged with a drug crime in at least 30 years. Markham settled his lawsuit for a "substantial" sum, Brown said, though he is prohibited by a confidentiality agreement from saying how much.

"I couldn't understand why people who are supposed to serve and protect, and no one tried to protect me that night," Brown said. "Why would a police officer want to disgrace a citizen in that way?"